


Tea is for Trouble

by StrawhatsAndDelibirds



Series: Silver Rams AU [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Ingrid is here but I hate her so she's not properly tagged for Ingrid fans, because let them just go to school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24212362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawhatsAndDelibirds/pseuds/StrawhatsAndDelibirds
Summary: No one expects the big scary guy to like stuff that the rest of the nobles like like tea, so the best time for him to have some would be late at night when no one can see him.Right?
Relationships: Eudes | Owain & Cynthia (Fire Emblem)
Series: Silver Rams AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061522
Comments: 7
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

It wasn’t a crime to go and grab some tea from the dining hall this late at night. It was maybe a little scary, but he was practically a grown man and he wasn’t gonna let something like a little dark scare him. The monastery was crawlin with knights, there wasn’t anything that could get in and like beat the shit out of him. 

He really needed to start havin some in his room, but how the hell was he supposed to know that there were going to be so many sounds at night. Back home things were quiet except the odd time he caught Morgan sneaking around. Here it could be anything and he didn’t appreciate any of that crap.

Some thinkin ahead would’ve done wonders. Cause no he was out here  _ with _ the creepy sounds and other students would catch him out here and figure out that Brady’s nothin more than a big fraidy cat. 

He’d definitely think of a better way to sneak around than this for next time.

Walking into the kitchen, he immediately had the worry that there wouldn’t be any chamomile. He didn’t really get the chance to check it before cause there was always some other student buzzing around it. Fodlan was already so different from Ylisse, it’d be a crying shame if this was one of them. 

It was hard enough adapting to all the differences. How was he going to make it if they didn’t have the good tea?

But he’d start the kettle going. He was definitely gonna have tea, so he might as well get it started. 

Even if there wasn’t the one he was looking for, his Ma had showed him plenty of other ones that he could use in its stead. Worst case scenario he had to stand there sniffen teas to see which one was the more relaxing. He could always send her a letter asking to send him some. Ma wouldn’t let him be stranded somewhere with subpar tea. 

The print on the tins wasn’t great for late night tea, but with enough squinting, he could decipher the dark text. He’d move the now gently boiling water off the burner it was on and put the tea in so it could steep. 

He was worrying about nothing, why wouldn’t they have chamomile. This is what he needed to sleep like the dead. 

Seeing as how no one was gonna be in his room, he could use whatever tea cup he damn well felt like using. He’d just return it later once it’s dark out and no one’s around. No one’s around, so he could stop slouching enough to get a good look at the cups. 

He froze when he heard someone behind him. Aw pegasus blessings, there was someone in there with him. What were they gonna think when they saw a big scary lookin bloke drinking chamomile tea late at night from a cute little cup? The light didn’t change, so maybe they wouldn’t notice that he was even here. 

But he still had the kettle on the stove, what if they didn’t notice? 

Reputation or not, he didn’t want someone to get hurt because he wasn’t expecting anyone over there. 

“You better watch it, pal.” It was tough and a warning. It’d be good enough. 

“What?” That sounded like a girl. One not too much older than Morgan by the sounds of it. He couldn’t ruin a potential friendship for Morgan cause he felt like lookin like a tough guy. Besides, there wasn’t anything tough about pickin on little girls. 

“You’re gonna get hurt if you’re not careful. So pay attention.” He really didn’t want to bring up the kettle, but she could probably piece together that there was something dangerous in the room. 

“Are you threatening me? I’m not afraid of you.” 

You and your big mouth, Brady. If you just kept it closed you wouldn’t have shoved your foot in it.

“No there’s just a hot kettle, and I don’t know where you are.” He’d just pick a regular looking tea cup. 

It’d have to do. Ma always told him tea tasted better when all the details were perfect, but she’d understand that he’d have to pass on a better tea cup for now. 

“A hot kettle? Why are you making tea so late?” 

Even if he didn’t want to scare her, there was no way that he was gonna tell anyone outside of Yarne that he was scared. He knew by now that you couldn’t have a scary face and be a scaredy cat. It just didn’t work like that. 

“I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing in the kitchen so late?” He could faintly see her silhouette now as he poured his tea. She definitely was a young girl like Morgan. 

He could see her stiffen a little bit. 

Seemed like he wasn’t the only one that wasn’t expecting to get caught. He didn’t care, but he especially wasn’t in a place to judge. Didn’t seem like it mattered much. 

“Oh, well I’m just-” She interrupted herself by screaming in terror after turning around to face him. 

The scream wasn’t something that he’d expected at all. Did she see something? Was there something behind him? 

“Wh-what?! What’s wrong?!” He didn’t want to look behind him. He couldn’t. Whatever it was couldn’t hurt him so long as he didn’t look at it. 

“D-Demon!! I’m sorry! I’ll leave you to your tea!!” She ran out of the kitchen. 

Wait… She was scared of him, wasn’t she. 

Sure he had a damn ugly mug, but demon? That was pushing it a little far, wasn’t it? He felt bad, but that also hurt his feelings. Wasn’t like he was trying to be scary. The tea’d take the edge off all this, but he’d take it to his room so he wouldn’t scare anyone else. 

He’d pour his cup and put a little honey in there. The kettle was still too hot to be cleaned, so he’d set it to the side and deal with it in the morning. There were plenty of kettles, so it wasn’t like it was going to be an inconvenience if he didn’t clean it right away. 

As he was leaving, he could hear some footsteps. His blood ran cold.

He already played this game tonight. He wasn’t about to do this again. He’d sneak around the back to leave. Whoever’s in there could eat as much as they want. His ugly mug wasn’t gonna stop them this time. 

He wouldn’t’ve figured the dining hall would be so popular at night. He wasn gonna have’ta remember that. Getting tea was gonna be a hell of a lot more tricky if there were so many people pokin around in there. 

“I’m telling you, there’s a demon in there!” The girl from earlier said in an urgent whisper. 

He quickly blew out his candle and crouched down so he was just below the little platforms that the ground level dorms were on.

Damn, and he had gotten so close to his room too. Now he had to wait for however many people she had with her to go past. 

“I can’t wait to meet him.” Another girl giggled. She sounded a lot older. It looked like it was only the pair, because he could faintly see the two of them hurry off to the dining hall. 

That better not mean it was gonna be busier in there from now on. He really was gonna have to keep tea in his room. And he was gonna have to make his chamomile with careful magic instead of a burner. This sucked. 

He waited until they were just about gone, when he went back to scurrying back to his room. He’d light his candle with a little bit of light reason magic, and hopefully he wouldn’t fall on the stairs. 

Once he was in his room, he finally got to take a sip of his tea. It helped, but not as much as he would’ve liked it to. The year had barely started, and he knew that it was only gonna get worse from there. He took another sip of tea, and sniffled. 

He wasn’t that ugly, was he?


	2. Chapter 2

At some point he had fallen asleep. He knew because his eyes cracked open as there was knocking at the door. Opening his eyes made him all the more aware of the now dried and crusty tear stains on his face.

“Hey Brady, you’re gonna be late for breakfast if you sleep in any later.” Lucina reminded him through the door.

Gods he felt exhausted. He did his damnedest, but the tea didn’t do much to help calm him down. Couldn’t blame it too much since it was meant to keep him from worrying about the sounds outside. Tea couldn’t fix him from folks thinking he was a demon. 

But as much as he’d like to, he couldn’t mope around in bed all day. There were things to do. He’d just have to try harder tonight. Get an earlier start or something.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m comin.” He’d put his clothes on, and make sure they looked nice. He could still hear Ma scoldin him about bein a proper gentleman and how he couldn’t dress like a slob. The clothes did make the man.

Though it wasn’t like it’d do much to distract from his scary mug. He’d wipe it before he headed out, but this just made it as presentable as it was last night. Which was to say it still scared his classmates. 

He wasn’t gonna linger on that too much. Or else he’d just start bawlin again. 

He’d give a knock on Morgan’s door. “Hey Morgan, you up yet?” He waited a beat for a response. 

That girl was either up at the crack of dawn, or didn’t get up until the middle of the day. He had the feeling there was going to be more of the latter now that she’s got new stuff to study. He was gonna have to get on her case more often so she didn’t burn herself out completely. 

When none came he cautiously opened the door and peeked inside. Looking around, he could see clothes tossed lazily to the floor and an unmade bed.

Guess she woke up with the dawn today. Hopefully she hadn’t already gotten in trouble. Because he didn’t have the energy to spare today. 

He’d head downstairs and head for the dining hall. He’d probably just end up grabbing something small and heading to Yarne’s room. 

Knowing Yarne he’d pass any opportunity to eat in a big group of strangers. Plus it’d be easier on him. Hiding those big ol’ ears couldn’t have been a great feeling. The less he had to have them pulled back, the better. 

On his way to the dining hall, Yarne came rushing out and grabbed him like a sack of potatoes. 

He hated how easily he could pick him up, but it seemed like there were bigger things to worry about for now. There wasn’t even time to speak up before they were back in Yarne’s room. 

“Mind telling me what’s going on?” He paused. “You’re okay, right?” It was worth asking. Because maybe someone saw something they weren’t supposed to see. Yarne was in a much more precarious situation than he was. 

“OF COURSE I’M NOT OKAY! THEY’RE TRYING TO MAKE US EAT BREAKFAST IN A ROOM CURSED BY A DEMON?! I CAN’T BE MAKING RISKS LIKE THAT!!” Yarne squawked, pacing in his room still holding him like he weighed nothing. The damn farm boy. 

“A demon?” He asked, a knot forming in his stomach. 

“YEAH! ONE OF THE BLUE LION GIRLS SAW ONE IN THIS VERY DINING HALL!! AND THEY EXPECT ME TO JUST BE OKAY WITH IT!!!” 

Gods he really hoped that it wouldn’t escalate like this. He had hoped that she’d have gone back and saw that he wasn’t there and maybe that she had imagined the whole thing. And that no one would have to hear about him and his dumb scary face wanting late night tea. Though that was his fault for hoping that this would all blow over. 

Brady twisted around in Yarne’s arms and put his hands on either side of his face. “Yarne I’ve trusted you tons of times in the past, and now it’s your turn to trust me. You don’t have to worry about the demon. In fact, I’m probably the only one who has to worry about the demon. You just gotta breathe pal.” 

“HOW ARE YOU SO SURE!? SHE SAID IT THREATENED TO BURN HER WITH A KETTLE!” 

“THAT’S NOT-” He flinched and let go of his face. Gods did it really sound like he said that? “I was trying to warn her to be careful because I had a kettle on the counter. I didn’t want her to burn herself because it was dark. It just came out wrong I guess.” This wasn’t working at all. He was supposed to be the one comforting him, but this was just making Brady feel worse and probably wasn’t helping Yarne at all.

“Wait... What do you mean you were trying to warn her?” 

“I was makin some tea so I could sleep easier, and I guess she took one look at my mug and ran for the hills.” He didn’t know he came off that mean. It was just supposed to sound tough, to make up for the fact that a guy like him was making tea for his nerves. 

“So you’re the demon?” Yarne set him down on his bed so he could better ponder it. “It seems a bit… extreme?” His brow furrowed. “Wait, did you put any lights in the kitchen?” 

“No, didn’t think I needed to cause I had my candle. I didn’t need the whole room to be lit.” The moon wasn’t all that bright, so he doubted the moon made him look especially scary last night. Besides if you have a candle it messes with how your eyes adjust so the moonlight wouldn’t even play that big of a roll here anyways. 

“Was your candle ever under your chin?” 

“Why does it ma-” Oh… Oh. “ Guess that would make me look scarier, huh. Never thought I’d have to worry about where I held my candle since I don’t have long hair or a beard.” He of all people should know. Cynthia and Owain were both yelled at for pulling a move like that on him back when they were kids. Damn near made his heart stop. 

“So should I apologize for all this? Cause if she’s yellin about it it’s probably already gotten out of hand.” He felt kinda damned if he did, damned if he didn’t. “I didn’t mean to become the school’s newest attraction the first night. 

“Probably. Even if it was an accident you still scared her.” 

“Alright, you got a point.” He hated to admit it. This whole situation was embarrassing and he’d love to pretend it never happened. But he couldn’t just be mean. “Did’ya by any chance get her name or what she looked like?” Cause either he could work with. 

“I… I kinda just heard demon and got out of there as fast as I could. You would too if you were an endangered species!!” Yarne protested. 

He had a point, but it didn’t mean that it was any more helpful. 

“Gotta say that makes it a little hard.” He groaned. “Plus I’m pretty sure that I’d be killed if I went now and told her that I was the demon all along, even if I did apologize.” He didn’t even think of it, but Yarne really saved his bacon back there. All hell would’ve broken loose if he had gone into the dining hall.

Though at the mention of hell, an equally painful thought crossed his mind. A chill went down his spine just thinking about it.

“You don’t think Owain and Cynthia were in the dining hall while you were, do you?”

Any hope of eye contact with Yarne was lost. He stared at the wall with an awkward silence. 

His silence spoke volumes. Brady knew the answer, and he knew his fate. 

“Gods damn it.”


	3. Chapter 3

Any worries he had of dreary and dull school days were dashed the moment he entered the dining hall. It seemed even livelier than he could’ve imagined. Though it wasn’t the simple idle conversation of new and budding relationships. This was something far darker. From their lips spilled hushed whispers of a demon that dared to curse their dining hall. 

The air was heavy with the weight of mystery of the true culprit. 

They dare talk of demons when it should be obvious that he, Owain Gau of the Cursed Blood, was the only demon meant to be in their ranks. 

But he has long since trained his blade and cursed hand, and was not a threat unless he wanted to be. He made an oath to fight for the side of humanity. His training was long and arduous. 

Yet in his very domain another demon dared to show itself. 

How very foolish. 

He scanned the crowd for his comrade in arms. The one who stayed with him as he trained his blood so that he may fight against his own kind for the ones that he held dear. Short as she may be, her hair as white and cold as the snow itself made her easy to spot in any crowd. 

Unfortunately, scanning the crowd he saw at least four people with white hair. One was definitely a guy, but the other three were both really short. Oh man, he wasn’t actually anticipating her to be so easy to lose. Her hair was always a dead giveaway. 

“Owain!” Ah, his comrade had found him. How fortunate. They would have to think of a better way to track her down in the future. But for now he would head to her waving hand. 

“Ah, Cynthia. My most valued ally. It seems my cursed blood has brought about a demon. It’s only fair that I take it down. But in this fight, might I ask for your hand for support. I fear that if I take up this task on my own that I might be lost to the dark influence of this great and awful beast.” He clenched his hand into a fist, grasping it with his other hand. 

“Naturally I, Cynthia von Naucht the Starry Knight, will be there to keep you in check and kick some butt! If there’s a demon here, then I just know we’ll find it.” She punched the air triumphantly. If only Gerome still wanted to fight alongside them. Then they’d be an unstoppable trio rather than a duo. He’d be tricky to find because he was always off somewhere by himself. Dramatically brooding no doubt. 

“We first need to know where to strike. The beast dwells in this building somewhere, but do we know where it first struck? We might be able to find clues as to where this dastard will strike next. We’ll be on his case in no time and he’ll be back to hell where he belongs!” He slammed his fist down on the table dramatically. 

“Well the last witness to have seen him saw him in the kitchen. I wonder if he’s like the monsters that our parents fought? My father would be so excited if we sent it back to him after we kicked his butt!”

“We can’t send him to your dad, we’ve gotta send him to hell! Cause that’s where demons belong!’ There wasn’t any drama in that. It was just sending it somewhere else, and even if Mr. Naught could handle it like it was nothing it still didn’t have any of the impact them getting rid of him then and there did. 

“How bout I keep just a little bit of him, then I mail it to my dad so he can poke at it.” 

“I guess I can compromise, but only if you take it off him as he dramatically dissolves into nothingness because he’s a beast that doesn’t belong in this world.” This was really taking all the gusto out of his grand plan. 

“Hey, what’re you guys talking about.” A blue haired challenger asked, taking his spot across from them with his ash haired companion. 

“We’re going to conquer the demon that has taken refuge in this dining hall. It’s our fates as I have long struggled with the demon blood that flows through my veins, and Cynthia is my long standing partner who understands what it takes to quell the darkness that threatens to overtake me at any moment.” Finally, he can regain his footing. All this talk of keeping pieces of it really threw him off his game. 

“You don’t look very demonic to me.” 

“Your hair might be blue, but alas, you are very green my friend. I am merely cursed by my blood. It is through years of training that I have honed my skill so that my demonic traits are indistinguishable from my human ones. Though as someone approaching me as a novice in terms of demons, it’s completely understandable that you might believe that.” He returns to clutching his cursed hand. 

“I still don’t completely get what you’re talking about, but if you’re after this demon too, then count me in.” He punched his palm. They weren’t looking for new members, but he had to say he did appreciate his fire. 

“I would also like to join. I do admit the idea of a demon terrifies me, but I can’t let this demon go on after what happened with Annette.” And grey haired boy too. He glanced over at Cynthia. As the other senior and founding member of the Justice Cabal, it only seemed right that she get some say as well. 

He could tell from her look that they had passed the first test. It would only be rougher from here as they continued on this mission. 

“Very well. We shall allow you into the Justice Cabal. Though first we need your names. We cannot fight along unnamed allies.” Even Gerome had one when they would go out adventuring. 

“I’m Caspar von Bergliz.” The green blue haired boy yelled. 

“And I’m Ashe Ubert. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Once this all clears, we can work on grander titles for you both. Ours were cultivated over years, but we can start figuring out what yours are once we get a good grasp on how both of you fight.” Because you couldn’t be a hero without a grandiose title. There wasn’t any drama otherwise. 

“There’s no time for fancy shmancy titles. There’s a demon butt to kick. So what’s our first clue.” He had no respect for heroism, yet he liked this kid’s attitude. It was fiery and he could tell that Caspar was a get things done kinda guy. 

“Well I think Annette said she was getting snacks in the middle of the night when it tried to curse her. So it’s probably in the kitchen!”

“Then what’re we doing sitting around for!?” Caspar angrily got up from the table and was immediately on the move. He respected that fire. 

“Caspar’s right! We need to go right now!!”He’d follow suit. Owain didn’t even have to check to know that Cynthea was right behind him. Hopefully Ashe would to. His friend passed with flying colours, and there was nothing worse than having your friend out perform you. Your closest allies should also be your rivals. 

Though their advancing was cut short by the cooks. The moment they were jumping over the counter to get to the real kitchen, they found themselves Warped back on the student side. 

“What do you kids think you’re doing? We’re still busy with breakfast. We can’t have kids running around under foot right now. We have a lot to do.” The cook scolded. 

“It’s not wise to get in the way of justice. Should my anger get too out of control I might be overtaken by my cursed blood and even my closest ally wouldn’t be able to stop me til it’s run its course.” He clutched his hand to prove his point. 

“I’m sorry about that. You wouldn’t mind if after breakfast if we checked by for any signs of something suspicious? We can even help cleanup if we must.” Wait, what was Ashe saying. Justice shouldn’t have to yield to anything. Justice was justice!

“Wait hold on, we have this under control just let us do the talking.” This was just like Cynthia asking to keep some of the demon for her dad. It just took so much wind out of his sails. 

“Well if you want to come by after breakfast, that’s fine by us. We’re pretty much expecting the odd student to drop by between meals anyways for tea and snacks. Just try not to make a mess.” Ugh, he couldn’t even be mad about it since it worked. 

“We could’ve pushed our way through. There’s four of us.” Caspar protested. He might not’ve gotten the theatrics of his cursed blood, but at least this guy understood this. A true hero has to fight to get to the top. 

“They’re busy and we’d be disturbing them, Caspar! Do you know how hard it is to cook for this many people?” Stop making good points. There still wasn’t any drama to it. It made this just a little bit boring, but whatever. He could wait like an hour.

“Well if we wait, the demon’s gonna underestimate us. And while it’s guard down we strike without mercy and crush it to pieces!” That was a good sell. Leave it to Cynthia to figure out something great. That’s how you knew she was a senior member of the Justice Cabal. 

“Ugh, fine. I guess we can wait. Still think my plan would’ve worked.” Caspar mumbled under his breath. He put a hand on his new comrade’s shoulder. 

“Worry not, the day is still young. There’ll be plenty of chances to prove yourself yet. Just you wait, my young friend.” Though an hour felt like a really long time to wait. There’d be a lot of time after to interview the staff about this. They’d know better than anyone if anything was amiss. 

“What are you guys up to.” Another voice, daring to step forward whilst he was distracted pondering a new plan of attack. 

“We’re planning to take down a demon. For now we’re mostly just waiting until the staff is finished with breakfast so we can ask them if anything in their kitchen seemed unusual this morning. Perhaps a little supernatural. Naturally we’re the best suited candidates for besting this foul creature. Between my cursed blood and my partner’s ability to keep my dark powers in check, and our two newest trainees, capturing this beast is going to be easy.” There were a few scoffs of protest from the newbies, but they had to understand that they were new. It’s only natural that after years of practice that they were ahead of them. 

“You guys know that this thing isn’t really a demon, right? It’s just some jerk who thinks he’s tough for picking on young girls. Demons aren’t real. They’re made up by parents to get their children to behave. You’re all acting like children. Grow up.” She scolded. He couldn’t help but scoff. 

“Those are awfully bold words coming from the uninformed. I stand before you a demon restrained in a human vessel. My power is much greater than you could possibly fathom, and yet you stand there speaking confidently of things you are ignorant of. I can’t help but pity you, yet wish I too could know as little as you.” He dramatically brushed his bangs from his face. He was so cool. 

“And if you think they’re our parents’ made up lies, then you definitely don’t know my dad.” Oh yeah that’s definitely true. He’s seen the things Mr. Naucht has conjured for the knights to fight during training. You didn’t need to make things up when those things existed. 

“You’re both just proving my point. I was going to help you out, but it’s obvious that you’re all children who aren’t going to take this seriously. And I have to say, I’m disappointed that one of my classmates would even join such a childish endeavor.” She continued to scold, her ignorance being all the more obvious. 

Ashe fidgeted nervously. It was only natural that someone so new to this would be able to be shamed. Especially since he was specifically targeted. She was obviously someone who lacked both information and honor, so her words would do nothing to hurt him now. 

“If you’re so sure, then how about we make this a wager. The Justice Cabal verses you and however many fools you wish to gather, whoever gets to the bottom of this wins. If you win, then we will admit that we’re all children to the world. If not, then you must yell from the rooftops of your ignorance so the world may know.” 

“Why just me?”

“Because you’ve made this declaration on your own. You alone stand as the uninformed fool. You’ve denounced all of the Justice Cabal, so united we will stand. But maybe I overestimated your confidence in your abilities. Maybe you are worried that you’re an ignorant fool.” He felt so cool right now. 

“Ugh. Fine. But only because I know the four of you aren’t going to make any progress and I’ll have it figured out by tomorrow morning.” She rolled her eyes. To the untrained eye, she seemed annoyed, but Owain knew that she was trembling in her boots. And this would lead to her downfall. 

“Why did you have to go and make a bet that big?!” Caspar protested, his fists clenching. 

“Worry not, Caspar of the Burning Blood. For we have the advantage of experience and numbers. The Justice Cabal has lasted for nearly a decade now, and we’ve trained hard. And now we have more members than we’ve ever had.” He did try and shoot a glance over Gerome’s way, but the mask made it hard to tell where he was looking. He had a feeling it wasn’t at them. Damn, five members would be a great number to have.

“We better. Cause I’m not yelling about how childish I am on the third day.” 

“Don’t worry. She’s practically giving us the clues by not trying to get into the kitchen before us. Her overconfidence is going to be her downfall.” They weren’t burdened by trivial things such as doubt. Anything could be a clue, and relying on believing it wasn’t a real demon was only going to hinder them. 

Though now, all they could do was wait. 


	4. Chapter 4

She had to admit that she was a little worried at this point. The stakes had gone way up, and no one was going to take her seriously if they all thought she was a kid. She wasn’t that much younger than most of them, but a few years could make a lot of difference. At least she knew that no matter what, she could count on Owain being her partner for training. The other two were in their own classes so that made her a little worried. 

But this wasn’t a place for worries. Nor was this the time. Because they had a mission, and they were going to do this with the passion and attention that it deserved! For their client, and for their fellow Justice Cabal members. She, Cynthia von Naucht, the Starry Knight, would make sure that they would succeed!! 

The kitchen itself didn’t seem too unordinary at first glance. It was a very nice, but rather small kitchen. Way smaller than she thought it’d be for how many mouths it had to feed on a daily basis, but they also had the area out front. Something was out of place in this kitchen, and there was no way they’d leave even a single stone unturned. 

“So how do we even know if this thing’s a demon or not. Cause now that that other girl’s not here I can say that I don’t think you know either.” Caspar accused. 

“Well, I’m more familiar with undead if I’m being honest. So if it’s the same thing, then it’s claw marks, torn bits of their clothing, or maybe some sludge. But whoever’s behind this seems too smart to be a risen.” Because never had she seen one that seemed like it could communicate. And her father would’ve told her so many stories about the risen he saw talk. 

“Demons can act a lot like a human while they’re luring in a target, so no doubt there’d be something here that doesn’t quite fit.” 

“Can we go back to that part about you being familiar with the undead?” Ashe asked, concern in his voice. 

“We can talk about that later. First we have a demon to find or we’re all going to yell that we’re childish in front of the school.” And while it was a great way to get her off their backs, she still wasn’t thrilled Owain went ahead and did that. 

Ashe let out a groan of reluctant acceptance, and they continued on their search. If the culprit mentioned tea, then there had to have been some sign of tea being made. Like maybe one of the lids on the tea containers wasn’t on properly. It was dark last night, so they probably couldn’t tell very well. 

The chamomile lid was a little askew, but looking at it she couldn’t tell much. Of course it was something like chamomile. It’s like  _ the _ sleepy time drink. Even someone like her who didn’t drink a lot of tea knew that. And here she thought she was gonna figure something big out. 

“Hey! There’s a kettle missing from the cupboard!” 

“Our first clue!! Nice work, Ashe the Eagle Eyed! Now we must find what became of this kettle!” Owain announced, dropping down to check for any trace of it down there. If he was looking for shards of the potentially shattered kettle, then she wouldn’t bother looking down there. 

“What if they took it with them? That way it couldn’t be found until later.” Ashe had a good point.

“What if they took it with them and then smashed it somewhere else so it couldn’t be traced back to them.” And another good point by Caspar. 

“Well it’s probably gonna be a while until we’re allowed back. We have to make sure we’ve found absolutely everything in here first.” If they’re covering all bases, then there’s one they haven’t thought of yet. “Though splitting up might not be that bad an idea.”

“Found it!” Sure enough, it was sitting there with the pot that was used to heat the water. Just waiting to be washed in the sink. 

“Cyntia don’t touch that!” Owain yelled, practically vaulting over the island between them. 

“Why is it cursed??” Ashe asked, bracing for the worst.

“Or a trap??” Caspar asked, fists at the ready to punch.

“Oh, trap makes a lot more sense.” Ashe nervously rubbed the back of his head. 

“No she’s very clumsy and this isn’t our teapot.”

“I’m not that clumsy!” She huffed, but she moved out of the way so the four of them could all see it. 

There didn’t seem to be anything remarkable about it. It was just a dumb teapot and a pot that was used to boil the water. 

“So why would the culprit leave the teapot in the sink like this. It feels almost like it’s too obvious here. But maybe it’s so obvious that they thought that we’d overlook something like this. Or maaaaaybeeeeeeee... “ Owain turned dramatically to the doors. “IT’S A TRAP!”

They all braced, ready to attack whoever was going to get them. But instead they were met with silence. No one was at the door, no one was in there but them. They all turned to stare at Owain. 

“Look I said maybe.”

Attention went back to the teapot. There was silence as they all tried to figure out the significance of it and why it was here. 

“So why is the teapot important?” Caspar asked, finally breaking the silence. 

“Well it’s so we can piece together what happened last night. Why else would we even be looking at it?” 

“But didn’t Annette say that the demon said it was going to pour hot tea on her?” Ashe asked, joining his fellow newbie. 

Silence filled the room, as the answer went unanswered. The weight of the time lost was crushing. They really hadn’t made any progress in this at all, have they. 

“I can’t believe we haven’t made any progress!! All we have is a demon who has a thing for tea!! We’re gonna have to yell about how we’re kids in front of everyone.” 

Wait… A demon who had a thing for tea. She locked eyes with Owain, who was already staring back at her. This whole time it was obvious. There was no one else it could be!

“I know who did it!! We gotta find him and quick!!!” She yelled.

“No, we don’t have to go anywhere. We just have to lie in wait for when the wretched criminal returns to the scene of the crime. I’ve dealt with this bastard for years, we practically share the same demonic blood that courses through our veins. It's a shame he never found anyone who could temper it as well as I have.”

“Aw man, does that mean there’s more of you?”

“And just what is that supposed to mean?”

“Save the fighting for later! We have to hide so we can catch him. He might not be very fast, but he is cunning.” 

Caspar and Owain exchanged looks, but both backed down. Justice triumphed once today, let's hope we can make it happen again. 


	5. Chapter 5

Yarne had had his fill of adventure for one day. It was a damn shame, but maybe it was for the best. This was his own mess, and it wasn’t fair to drag him into this with him. Even if it would be kinda nice to have a partner for this. 

He had waited for breakfast to pass, so he could hopefully talk to her in private and not in front of a ton of people. It was bad enough that he had made this whole mess, he didn’t want to have a group of strangers yell at him for it. What would his Ma say when she found out he went and made himself the most hated man in the school on the second day of being here. 

Knowing that at this point he had at least one group of numbskulls on his trail (even if knowing their history they were hours away from even getting remotely close), there wasn’t much time. He’d sneak out of Yarne’s room, and do his best to get around and not draw as much attention to himself as possible. He didn’t really have much to go on, but he knew she had a friend here already, because her room was the one he almost got caught in front of the other night. 

It was weird tracing back his footsteps, but he did remember being very close to the stairs when the door opened. He could feel a knot tying in his stomach. This could so easily go south for him if this was the wrong door. He wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind last night on his way back because he was so worried about getting caught. Not to mention he already ran the risk of being greeted with more screaming when they answered the door. 

Gods he wished he didn’t enroll. But this was for Morgan. Who knows how mercilessly they’d bully her if he wasn’t here? He had to be here to draw the fire for her. It was his whole job as the big brother. 

But he was here now. Regret or not this was something he was gonna have to do eventually. He might as we get it over with now.

He took a deep breath in, and held it as he knocked on the door. There he did it. Now please actually be in your room so he can talk to you. 

What felt like years went by as he stood there waiting for her to open her door. 

“Hello, are you looking for me?” The same musical voice from last night chimed from behind him. 

He let out a startled and strangled kinda squawk. Aw horse feathers, he’d only started and he’s already messed up. 

“Don’t go sneakin up on people like that, you lookin to give me a heart attack or something.” That probably sounded tough. Hopefully it did. “You’re friends with that girl that ran into trouble last night, right?”

“Oh, I guess that must make you the demon.” She smiled cheerfully. It was no doubt fake but she was sure making an attempt to sell it. 

No answer was going to save him at this point. He was already screwed. He could try to act all tough about it. At this point it’d just make a bigger scene. 

“Yeah, I wanted to apologize to her. I didn’t realize that this whole time I had the candle under my chin like that. It’s just the most comfortable way to carry it. And I guess me warning her about my tea on the counter came out all wrong. I just didn’t want her to burn herself on it accidentally seeing how it was dark in there ‘n all.” Saying it out loud made it seem stupid. He could barely believe it was the truth and he was the problem in this whole mess. “I didn’t mean to spook her at all. Just forgot I was stuck with this mug is all.” 

“And here I was worried that Annie was being picked on.” She chuckled. He had a name on who to look for, at least. That was progress. 

“You know where she is? And you wouldn’t mind comin with me, would’j’ya? Thinkin about it now I don’t think my apology would mean much if a big lug like me cornered her alone.” Him turning the corner alone might scare her a second time. It was bad enough the first, what if there wasn’t anywhere for her to run to this time?

“I think that’s a great idea. Follow me.” She headed off towards the dining hall. He followed, but couldn’t help but feel anxious about goin there. Last time went so piss poorly, he felt his worries were founded. But it was too late to chicken out. But they didn’t go up the stairs. They turned and went down to the docks. He could see Annie sitting down with some papers and quills. 

“Did you find your quill, Mercie? Cause we can use mine for- Mercie look out!!” She yelled, jumping to her feet. He held up his hands defensively. 

“Whoa whoa whoa. I’m not looking to cause any trouble here.” Jeez he was even in the daylight now. There wasn’t anything he could do about this face. 

“It’s okay, Annie. I brought him with me. He’s got something to say to you.” 

Was she his Ma now or somethin? She was nice and all but he was practically a grown man. He didn’t need someone he just met actin like he was some kid who got in trouble for pullin her pigtails in class. 

Annie gave him a look that made his blood run cold. Gods was he absolutely sure he couldn’t run away at this point? 

But he was a man. He had to do this. Couldn’t run away from his problems like a scared little boy. 

“ ‘M sorry about last night. I was tryin hard to make it sound like the tea I was makin wasn’t mine, and I was so focused on that I wasn’t payin attetion to where I was holdin the candle. And I also wasn’t thinkin about how rude what I was saying was. Sorry for scaring you.” There. Probably didn’t fix anything, but at least it was out in the open. 

“Why were you so worried about sounding tough when you look like that?” Annie narrowed her eyes at him. 

Mercie did nothing, aside from let him have the floor. 

“Cause I didn’t want people to think I was a weenie for gettin tea in the middle of the night. Cause no one gets tea before bed unless it’s to calm them down. But then you came in and I didn’t realize you were so small before you started talking, and by then I was tryin to find a good middle ground, but I did a piss poor job of that, didn’t I.” And it got so out of hand so fast. 

“Wait, you were getting tea last night to calm you down?” Her tone changed completely. It was shock, disbelief, and a little bit of pity. “I was already telling people about the demon I saw last night.”

“Yeah, I kinda heard from my buddy. Scared him half to death til I told him it was me.” And Yarne was still recovering from that scare. 

“Oh my goodness! This has all gotten so out of hand! And you already were drinking tea to calm yourself down. I’m so sorry!” 

Now he felt bad for even apologizing. Maybe it would’ve just been better to have stayed the bad guy. Then she wouldn’t have had to feel bad about this. 

“Nah, with a mug like mine I should’ve known.” It was why he was only really invited to play Justice Cabal when no one wanted to be the villain when they were kids. 

“Don’t say that. Once people get to know you, they’ll know that you’re a sweetheart.” Mercie smiled. 

“Yeah! And I’ll tell lots of people just how sweet you are!” It sounded like it’d land him in a lot more trouble than it’d solve. 

“Don’t worry about it. Damage’s done. Besides, probably make people listen to me more when I tell ‘em to stay away from Morgan. There’s already one person I got my eye on, but there could be more.” He didn’t trust that man. He gave off such sleazy vibes. 

“Ooooh, do you already have a girlfriend here?” Mercie teased, and it almost made him want to gag. 

“Morgan’s my little sister. She’s got a knack at getting into trouble, and it’s my job as her big brother to get her out of it. It’s kinda the whole reason I came to this school.” He might as well just say it. He wanted to squash any idea that he loved her that way.

They didn’t give him much of an answer, they just kinda awwed at him. He almost wanted to be feared again. He wasn’t sure he liked this, actually. 

“That’s so sweet… uh…” Annie froze as she realized she never got his name. 

“Name’s Brady Daraen. Oldest son of the Duchess of Themis in Ylisse.” Not that he looked like much of a noble. Not like there was much he could do to fix that. 

“I’m Annette Dominic, from House Dominic. Nice to meet you.”

“And I’m Mercedes von Martitz, but you can call me Mercie. Nice to meet you” He wasn’t going to say that he already knew because he heard them use them. He’s really glad that Annette gave him her name before he accidentally used the nickname her friend used. Because if he had there would’ve been no returning from that. 

“Nice to meet you both too. I can see you’re busy, so I’ll head out.” He was over here anyways, so he might as well go clean the dishes he left last night. 

“Aww, okay. We’ll talk to you later then.” 

They actually want to talk to him again? Weird, but whatever. 

“Sure, take care.” He’d wave and head up the stairs towards the dining hall and kitchen. 

He wasn’t going to say it to their faces, but he doubted anything they were going to say was going to help. Because accidentally or not, he still menaced a little girl. The whole school’s gonna see him as a coward and give him a piece of their mind. It’d blow over eventually, but it was still gonna suck for a little bit. Them trying to talk him up might make it worse, because then it’ll seem like he found them and and intimidating them into making everyone like him now. And that made him seem like even more of a jerk. 

But at least he apologized to her. It didn’t seem like she only accepted it cause she was afraid of him, which was nice. Maybe next time he’d make them some tea. As a thanks for being so understanding.

Speaking of tea, he really should’ve come by the kitchen earlier. Now he was going to have to clean a nasty teapot before the cooks came in to start working on lunch. He’d bring down his teacup later. He still didn’t know when they started doing preparations for lunch. 

He was gonna pick up the teapot to give it a good rinse before he started cleaning it, even if it was night old, it probably still left a film on the side of the pot. 

That was his plan, anyways, before everything went dark and he felt himself go sideways. Every part of his face hurt and he had absolutely no idea as to what’s happening. 

His brain was so completely overcome with panic, that he could hear yelling, but not actually process what any of those words were. His eyes opened and he was on the floor. He couldn’t tell if he was bleeding or if his nose was just throbbing, but he could feel the tears in his eyes. Of all the times there could be tears and his dumb eyes chose the time when there were tons of people in the room with him. Fantastic. 

“Look what you did! Now he’s crying.” He heard Owain scold. 

Of course it’s the Justice Cabal. He should’ve known they had something to do with all this. 

He wanted no part of this. He was leaving. If anyone asked why he left dirty dishes in the sink he’d point them to these jerks. This wasn’t his problem any more. 

“You shouldn’t have punched him in the first place!” Someone scolded. He didn’t care. Them fighting between each other was to his advantage. 

They had no legal control over him. He couldn’t speak for the new however many fools they pulled in, but he knew for a fact that those two were not older than him. He could say for a fact that none of these jerks were his Ma nor his Father so they couldn’t tell him anything. He’d scramble to his feet and hurry away. 

There was a risk that more people would see him all misty eyed like this, but he no longer cared. He was going back to his room, and he was writing Auntie Lissa a letter. He might even write to Mrs. Naucht. He didn’t care, but he was sure that they’d both love to know what their jerks have been up to the moment they were unsupervised. 

“Brady?” Oh pegasus blessings, Mercie saw him. It was over for him. He tried to hurry faster but he could hear the click of her heels catching to him. She was in heels and faster than him, he was really going to have to do better in the future. “Goodness, look at your face! What happened?” 

“Come on, Brady! We haven’t even gotten the chance to interrogate you yet.” Owain called from further back. 

“Yeah we didn’t know Caspar was gonna punch you that hard.” Cynthia added, like he wasn’t still going to send letters both their moms. 

“Piss off!!” If it weren’t for the fact that Mercie was right behind him he wouldn’t hesitate to send a little fire their way as thanks for ruining his nose.

“Here, let me help.” Mercie stopped him with a gentle hand on his shoulder, and her other hand in front of his face. Healing magic always stung a little, but it did make his head hurt significantly less. His nose probably wasn’t broken anymore, which was nice. But now Mercie was close enough that she could probably see the tears on his cheeks. And there went any hopes he had of looking tough in front of her. 

“You guys said he was the demon!” Some other jerk added. He must’ve been the one to send him sideways. 

“Yeah but we didn’t get a motive! You can’t punch first ask questions later! Brady’s a big crybaby and he’ll storm off.” He knew where Mercie was he could definitely shoot some fire at that jerk. 

“Didn’t I tell you to piss off?? I apologized already! Leave me the hell alone!” 

“Hey! We didn’t use magic. Caspar just used his bare fists that’s not fair!” Owain protested. 

“No what’s not fair is you using my name to hurt Brady!” Annette stepped in. He didn’t want this at all. Now she was gonna be defending him, and she was so small. It’d be like Morgan defending him. “He’s really sweet and I won’t let you pick on him!” 

“How was I supposed to know a big guy like that was all bones?! I didn’t know I’d lay him out so badly.” 

“Yeah, backpedal harder, ya jerks.” He sniffled, using his handkerchief he had in his pocket to clean his face up a little. Mostly to get the blood and the tears off his face. Wouldn’t get rid of the puffy eyes, which was embarrassing. 

“You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Picking on poor Brady like this.” Mercie turned her attention towards them. 

He couldn’t say he was entirely thrilled he was being talked about like he was some defenseless little kid. But it was so satisfying to see them all in trouble like this. Mercie didn’t have any more authority over them than anyone else did, but she was great at scolding. 

They all shifted uncomfortably as they knew Mercie took the only leg their argument had to stand on. 

“I’m sorry, it was wrong of us to have jumped to conclusions like that. We should’ve known better than to run into this without all the information.” The grey hair newbie bowed. He must’ve been their new Gerome. The voice of reason that often got ignored. He wondered how long that was gonna last. 

“Sorry I punched you so hard. Thought you were bigger than you were.” Unfortunately this one was just as bad as the other two, and was no doubt going to be a pain in his ass for at least the next year. 

“Sorry we didn’t stop him better.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” The rest was pretty well par for the course. He’s heard this song and dance from them so many times he didn’t care. 

“There’s nothing else you’re sorry for, Owain?” But that didn’t mean he wasn’t gonna let that one comment he tried to slip in slide. 

“What else is there?”

“How bout apologizing for callin me a crybaby. I got a reputation, y’know.” 

Owain snorted. Just cause two of the gentlest women were defending him right now didn’t mean anything. They were just nice. 

“Okay okay. Sorry I called you a crybaby. Even though it’s a fact.” 

“Piss off! That’s not an apology.” Whatever, he was gonna keep heading back to his room. Now he was going to tell Auntie Lissa for sure. Cynthia would be spared this time, because she didn’t call him a crybaby and she apologized. Now if their moms talked about this then that wasn’t his problem. “I’m going back to my room. And I better not hear from the  _ Jerk _ -stice Cabal for _ at least _ the rest of the day.” 

This time Mercie did let him leave, and he was thankful. His eyes were puffy and he looked like a mess. Some time alone in his room, and maybe a little time in Yarne’s room would be exactly what he needed. 

  
Just so long as it was away from these new friends, and from the  _ Jerk _ -stice Cabal.


	6. Chapter 6

She eventually got wind of what was happening. 

It was hard not to. Her brother was a big scary guy, and him getting in a fight with the new and improved Justice Cabal was kinda hard to miss. If a big guy like that was bloody and crying word got around fast. 

Brady was someone that she respected a lot. She knew all the effort he went through to seem big and tough. She also knew  _ exactly _ what kind of person he really was, and why he did that kind of thing. It was hard to miss when he was crybaby, but that was kinda part of the reason that she respected him so much. 

So naturally it makes her upset when she hears that someone’s been picking on him. 

Especially if it’s Owain and Cynthia. They should know better than practically anyone else here just how sensitive he was. It’s also no surprise as to which one was leading the charge of bullying her brother, because it’s always Owain. She lets them pick on Brady a little bit, but this time he had crossed a line. 

She knocked on his door. It was late enough that he was probably in there. But it was Owain so who really knew. 

“Enter! If you dare!” 

Yep, he was in. She’d let herself in. 

She wasn’t even going to ask what he was doing, but he was sitting on the floor surrounded by swords. One of them was in his hand, the hilt pressed against his brow. “You should know that the ritual you’ve interrupted is ve-  _ Morgan?! _ ”

Oh good, seemed like he knew why she was here. That made things a lot easier. She’d close the door behind her. Brady put a lot of effort into looking tough for her sake, she didn’t want him to feel bad about her standing up for him.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve, Owain. You’ve known Brady your entire life and you still thought that he’d do something like this? I can’t believe you.” 

He scrambled to put the sword down so he could hold up both his unarmed hands. “Listen I didn’t think that it was gonna get so out of hand. Our new trainee just went for it and Brady ran off. It wasn’t part of our plan at all.” 

“Then you trained him poorly.” She crossed her arms, leaning in over him. “But it  _ is _ a very Owain move to attack first and ask questions later. So maybe this  _ was  _ your doing after all.” 

He made a face that told her all she needed to know. “Listen we didn’t have a lot of time. We were under duress and we maybe made some rash decisions.”    
  


“ _ Why _ weren’t there teachers involved in all this? Were you trying to look tough and solve it before the teachers did so you could impress them with your detective skills, Mr.  _ Cofounder of the Justice Cabal _ ?” 

Getting recognition from peers was one thing, but getting it from a real adult was something else entirely. Especially if those adults had nothing to do with you.

Not that it was an excuse for any of this. 

“No, I kinda made a dumb bet with a student earlier today. She was going on about how we were childish because we were taking this demon thing seriously, and that she was gonna solve the _ real _ mystery behind the demon. And she wouldn’t stop going on about how childish we were so to get her off our backs I made a bet. And I kinda said that if she won we’d have to tell the whole school that we were childish.” He seemed a little embarrassed about it after the fact. He should feel embarrassed about all this. 

“You’re right, it  _ is _ dumb. You should know that you can’t bully Brady because you’ve got a big mouth. You might’ve been right in guessing he was the demon from last night, but you’ve forgotten all about the Demon  _ Queen! _ ” She rolled up her sleeve so she could properly deck him, but he suddenly got to his feet. 

“ **_WAIT! I FORGOT I DIDN’T TELL HER WE FIGURED IT OUT_ ** !” He pushed past her and ran out the door. 

He was worried about something _ else _ even though she was here and she was definitely gonna kick his butt. 

Whatever was planned, she didn’t like it, nor did she really trust Owain to stop it. How could she when this whole mess was his fault in the first place?

With no other choice, she ran after him. She had a funny feeling that whatever was gonna happen was in the dining hall. This had better not be a reoccurring thing or else it was gonna make it impossible for Brady to sneak tea and her to sneak snacks. And she was gonna be mad if either thing happened. 

Before they could even get there, Brady ran right into Owain. He looked scared and now whoever made this dumb bet with Owain was gonna pay. She no longer cared if Brady saw her kick a butt, because it was gonna happen. 

“Get back here!!”A voice from the dining hall yelled. Brady tried to scramble to his feet, but both he and Owain had to figure out in the dark what odd position they had landed on each other in. 

“ _ Shit. _ Sorry, I didn’t mean to drag you into this....” Brady hissed, trying to figure out how to get out of this mess. 

“No _ I’m _ sorry, I forgot to tell her we already solved the case.” 

“Wait, Owain?!” 

“There you are!” The voice was coming their way now, and she was definitely gonna make it this lady’s problem. She knew where she was just by the candle she was carrying. 

“I’ll show  _ YOU  _ a demon!” The light made it so Morgan could see the dork pile on the ground and get around it. 

There was a reason Owain dubbed her the Demon Queen, and she had no issue teaching this lady not to bully her brother!

“Wait,  _ Morgan?? _ ” 

Brady was gonna find out no matter what, but it wasn’t going to stop her from clocking her. Her only regret right now was how dark it was outside. She would’ve loved to see this jerk’s dumb face get punched. 

“Wait Morgan stop!” The light also made it so Owain could untangle himself. Him and his dumb, stupid legs easily caught up and plucked her up off the ground by her armpits. 

“Oh, it’s _ you  _ again. You can’t stop me now that I know who the criminal is. And he’s not a demon. He’s just a common thug.” She had the audacity to say. 

“He’s not a common thug, that’s my _ brother! _ ” She’d kick her shoe at her. She should consider herself lucky that she wasn’t able to do magic like this. And that even in the dark, shoes were very easy to dodge. 

“Watch it! And I can _ see _ he’s your brother, _ you _ act no better than a thug yourself.” 

“Hey don’t be saying things like that about my little sister!” Brady, now free, was able to come try and defend her. “She can be a little hot tempered but she’s a good egg.”

“Oh my  _ gods! _ Can everyone settle down?!” Owain pleaded. Which was odd because he was usually all about justice. How come he never wanted to be a part of it when it was justice to her advantage. 

“And just what is all the commotion about.” The guy who wasn’t the headmaster legally, but basically was, asked rhetorically. His torch shone a light on this whole scene. 

She was pretty sure she saw that girl in the Blue Lions class. Hopefully she knew that on this evening she’s made an enemy for life, and that she was going to be  _ very _ petty about it. 

“I caught the so called demon from the other night in the act again. These two tried to defend him so he may carry on scaring girls for whatever twisted joy it gives him.” She lied, forgetting that shoes come in pairs. 

The first one might’ve missed, but that one didn’t. That’s where brown nosing got you. 

“ _ Morgan! _ ” Brady scolded her, like she had more shoes to kick. But he turned his attention from her to the not headmaster. “I already apologized to Annette about last night. It was all a misunderstanding. You can ask her if you want.” 

“Annette shouldn’t be brought into this! Especially not by the likes of _ you _ .” She said, incredibly lucky that there were no shoes to be hit with. 

“Ingrid, I understand your concern over the matter. However Annette has already spoken to me of the incident that occurred last night. What interests me now is what happened tonight. I have heard _ your  _ side of the story, now it’s _ Brady’s _ turn to explain himself.” 

She looked none too happy about that. And that was a reward in and of itself. All she had to hope for now was to hope Brady didn’t have to pretend to be tough and mess it all up. 

“Look I figured that after what happened last night that I’d be clear to go make myself tea and not worry about causin anymore trouble. So I go into the kitchen, and I start makin myself tea. I hear some sounds, but it doesn’t sound like anyone comin in. So I ignore it and keep brewin my tea. Then out of nowhere, someone tries to grab me. I don’t wanna start a fight in the kitchen, so I make a run for it. Ran into Owain and the rest kinda explains itself.” 

“He kept looking at the door like he was waiting for someone to come in so he could threaten them just like Annette! He’s just upset that he got someone who doesn’t accept that kind of behaviour instead.” 

“I don’t like me liking tea to be something that everyone knows. And this is  _ exactly _ why.” 

“I have heard enough.” 

Great, now expel her. Disgrace her in front of the school for trying to make a scandal out of Brady. “To avoid situations like this in the future, we will have a designated time where students can prepare tea in the evenings. Said events will be overseen by a staff member. The room will be adequately lit so that everyone can be seen. Is this acceptable to you both?”

This wasn’t fair to Brady. He shouldn’t have to be public about his love of tea to get away with this. 

“Fine, I suppose it works.” Brady grumbled. 

Morgan glared at Ingrid. For now she’d bite her tongue so she wouldn’t make anything worse. But she wasn’t about to forget that Ingrid ruined this for him. 

“What if the women don’t feel comfortable around him. Because he’s known for being a brute. _ I _ certainly don’t want to attend tea with a brigand.” 

It’s hard to keep biting her tongue, because so far Ingrid was the only one who actively tried to attack someone here. But it’s for Brady so she’ll keep her mouth shut for his reputation. 

“Look just cause I got an ugly mug doesn’t mean I’m a brigand.” 

“If we have any complaints from students over the matter, I will personally look into it. Is this an acceptable solution for you both?” He looked just as annoyed as they all were over this. 

“Fine. Seems I have no choice but to agree.” 

“Very well. Now all of you head to bed. It’s late and you all have to be up early.” He said, as if he dismissed them. 

However Morgan could see the light he was casting as he watched and made sure that the four of them returned to their room without issue. Honestly it was probably the same reason Owain was still carrying her. 

The suspicious glances towards Brady from Ingrid weren’t missed. But not a word was said in fear of invoking the not headmaster’s wrath. 

It was disappointing that more wasn’t done to stop her. The situation could be settled if it wasn’t for her. 

So it looked like this was now something for Morgan to handle. 


	7. Chapter 7

He really didn’t want any of this to have happened. 

Now it felt like it was going to be an entire spectacle every time he wanted to get tea before bed. And he knew that every time he went that everyone was going to know that it was his fault it was even a thing. 

Not to mention that Ingrid was probably going to be there watching him like a hawk for the moment he did something wrong. 

Or that she _ perceived _ as wrong.

The issue was that he needed someone to go with. It absolutely couldn’t be Morgan because she already almost got in trouble because of him the night before, and he still wanted nothing to do with the  _ Jerktice _ Cabal even if they did owe him one for getting him into this mess. He really only had one person to turn to. 

Nervously, he knocked on Yarne’s door. He could faintly hear him yell through the door. There was no way that he was already in bed for the night. It wasn’t even that late yet.

The door opened a hair, and he could see just a little bit of Yarne’s eye. He was gonna have to start announcing himself before he knocked, wasn’t he. Not like he could blame him for being so on edge. It was the reason he was at his door afterall. 

“Hey Brady. What’s up?” He asked, not opening the door much more. He had to have had his hair down already. Brady couldn’t imagine having long hair, let alone having to braid his ears into it. 

“Was wonderin if you’d want to come get tea with me. I’ll make you some too. I just… don’t wanna go there alone, y’know?” Being tough was one thing, but he was a little worried on how this was going to go over with everyone. It definitely made it harder on people like him who wanted to privately have their tea, especially since after this the tea was locked away until morning. 

“Fine, but  _ only _ cause it’s you Brady. Just give me a second to do my hair.” The door closed. 

“Thanks Yarne, I owe you one.” More so than just the tea. Something bigger than that. 

“Yeah yeah. Just make sure the tea is good.” He huffed, before opening the door. He looked absolutely as nervous as he did. 

“Like I’ve ever made a bad cup in my life.” A lot of that noble training didn’t stick, but at least he could make a mean cup of tea.

Walking with Yarne, he did his best to look tough, but not suspicious. But he knew that between his face and the nervous energy radiating off Yarne, not looking suspicious was impossible. He’d still give it a shot. 

He was already the most hated man on campus, so what harm could it do?

The dining hall seemed to be packed. It was weird for this hour. But given that there wasn’t going to be any tea until tomorrow, it did make sense. 

Gods he wasn’t sure if he or Yarne were more nervous now. Yarne at the very least wasn’t the most hated man in the room right now. 

He wasn’t gonna stick around. He was going to make it, then leave. It’d be what’s best for both him and Yarne. They didn’t even have to say a word. 

Though now came the tough part, and that was waiting for it to finish. There wasn’t exactly much to do now that they were waiting. Talking felt like it’d draw too much attention to them, but just standin around here made him feel like he looked like a creep. Yarne didn’t look too comfortable with any of this either, but that was pretty much to be expected. 

“Oh! Brady! Come sit with us!” 

Wait, someone was calling to him? And sounded  _ friendly? _ He was too busy staring at the floor to notice anyone before. 

So he starts scanning the room and spots Annette and Mercie. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this, since he knows that Mercie did see him cry yesterday, but ignoring them would be rude. 

Yarne gave him a concerned look. He unfortunately had his own thing with them, because Annette would’ve seen him bolt out the door the moment she mentioned seeing demons. 

“Don’t worry, they saw worse with me.” He wasn’t about to say the c word out in public like this. 

Yarne didn’t look fully convinced, but did nod. He’d come back for their tea in a sec. 

“Now that you’re over here, you can have some of Mercie’s cookies. She’s really good at baking.” Annette smiled. Least she was in a good mood. “Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce myself to your friend. I’m Annette. Nice to meet you.” 

“And I’m Mercedes, but you can call me Mercie.” 

He wasn’t actually sure how this was gonna go for Yarne. He was even flakier than he was, and he wasn’t even the one that wanted to be out here. 

“I’m Y-Yarne. Nice to meet you.” 

He should say something and introduce him. Maybe if he could get Yarne to relax if he got the conversation started.

“Me and Yarne go way back. Apparently his mom was real close with the last Exault, and our current one’s a friend of his. So we’ve practically been pals since we were crawlin.” 

“Oh my goodness, that’s  _ so _ cute.” 

Yarne gave him a kick to the shins under the table. It took a lot of effort to not visibly wince. It was like he forgot that Brady was frail by human standards and Yarne’s legs were the strongest part about him. 

“So how long have you two known each other for. It can’t have just been for three days.” He’d move the topic off them. For Yarne’s sake and for his shins’. 

“Me and Annie met back when we were both attending the school of sorcery together. It was exciting to meet up again at Garreg Mach.” 

“It’s always nice to see familiar faces. Not sure how I’d manage if the rest of my class weren’t at least somewhat acquaintances. Though I guess it’s a double edged sword of its own given I’m stuck with Owain for the rest of the year.” Cynthia wasn’t an active thorn in his side, so there’s that. 

“So how do you know those two?” 

“Our moms have been joined at the hip since they were little. His mom married an important figure of a neighboring country, but they still visit a lot. He’s basically a cousin I never asked for. Cynthia’s the daughter of Exhault’s oracle and one of his trusted knights. I see her around whenever my father’s got business to attend to in the capital.” So that meant he was their victim whenever they were together. 

“We’d all get stuck playing Justice Cabal with them, usually when they couldn’t figure out which one of them wanted to be the villain and who wanted to be the one who got rescued. You’d get stuck playing villain every time the three of them refused to be anything else than heroes.” 

Gods, he could still hear Owain yelling after him not to tell his mom after hitting him over the head with a stick. It was like nothing changed in the slightest.

“Yeah you say that like you weren’t the one they rescued whenever I was the villain.” 

“Wait the three of them?” 

“Yeah, y’know the bloke in our class with the mask, way back when we were kids he’d run around with the two of them. He’s another one of the knights’ kids. His dad is one of Ylisse’s knights and his mom’s a knight to a little kingdom off the shore of our country. They went back and forth a lot, but so did a lot us.” He shrugged. 

“He stopped running around with them a while ago. Not really sure why.” 

Brady couldn’t help but snort at that. “Could you blame him? I stopped as soon as I could. Not that they didn’t find the odd reason to drag me back in. Like yesterday.” 

Some things never changed, did they. 

“I’m still sorry about that. He doesn’t call you a crybaby  _ every _ time, does he?” 

Why did she have to bring that up? Mercie didn’t tell her that he was crying, did she? 

“Brady you’re not a crybaby.” Yarne said in the best case scenario of this. 

However in reality he was choosing to not look at any of them, and not say a word. A lie would be appreciated now, but it looked like he was on his own. 

“Only when he wants to embarrass me and cover his tracks.” 

‘Yeah, he really knows how to divert attention to distract from the fact he got your nose broken’. Yarne didn’t say, because he was too busy not being a part of this conversation. Because he didn’t wanna lie for him. 

“Well we think you’re tough, right Mercie?” 

“Of course! I’m sure my eyes would water if I got punched like that.” 

Oh gods, how was he supposed to deal with these two being so supportive of him like this.

Oh no he _ wasn’t _ , he had to leave. 

He had to leave right now or they weren’t going to think he was tough anymore. 

He awkwardly cleared his throat. “I gotta, uh, go grab us teacups.” 

The tea probably steeped for too long. I wasn’t anticipating conversation. It was gonna be a little bitter, but that wasn’t something a little extra honey couldn’t fix. 

A thought occurred to him as he was looking through the selection. He was gonna be drinking tea with girls. So that meant he could pick out whatever he wanted when it came to teacups. It’d only be polite if he picked cuter ones for their sake. Ma always told him it was important to be a gentleman. 

There was a set there that reminded him a little of a tea set he used to have when he was little. It was a little childish, seeing as how it was covered with the cats they had on it. With their tiny little paws and cute little noses. Looked like if they were here they’d be all mewling and tumbling over each other. 

He actually couldn’t be in the building anymore. 

He was gonna cry cause now he was thinking about tiny little baby kittens and he couldn’t handle it. They didn’t have the right to be that cute. 

He went down the stairs and hid himself over in the corner. He’d go back in once he composed himself. 

But how was he supposed to do that when they had such _ little _ paws?

“You doin okay, Brady?” Yarne asked, electing to show off his physical prowess by simply hopping the ledge and not shattering both his ankles. 

“Kittens are just so  _ tiny _ , Yarne. How’re they supposed to support themselves on such tiny feet? No wonder they’re always fallin over themselves.” His voice was breaking to all hell, but he had to tell him. 

Yarne put a supportive hand on his shoulder. “I know they are, Brady. Wanna walk to my room and get the cream that’ll make your eyes less red and puffy.” 

He just nodded, because any words that came out of his mouth now would just be about kittens and there wasn’t really anything he could do about it.

A couple of deep breaths of the brisk night air was enough to calm him down. It was embarrassing to think about how he was crying like that over tea cups. And kittens, which he would think no further of tonight. 

At least not until he was alone in his room. 

“Thanks for helpin me out, Yarne.” He really made the right decision on trusting him. Even when it was over something dumb he wasn’t making fun of him, which he appreciated immensely. 

“You’re my friend, right? Not like you don’t do the same.”

Didn’t seem like Yarne was gonna let him argue on this one. Not that Brady was really in any position to. 

Somehow within moments, Yarne had pulled the bottle of whatever the stuff was. Brady couldn’t actually pretend like he cared about what it was anymore. “Now hold still.” 

The cream was freezing on his face. But that probably just meant that it was working. Yarne had a lot of stuff that was largely unpleasant, but ultimately worked. There was no point in griping about them every time he had to use one. 

“There. You’re already looking a lot better. No one’s even gonna notice.” He’d trust him, even if he wasn’t willing to lie earlier. 

“Thanks, I think I can pick out the cups now. Damn, tea’s gonna be bitter as hell now.” Maybe not  _ ruined _ , but definitely not the quality he’d’ve liked it to be. “Could you tell the girls that I thought I forgot a teacup in my room from the last time I got tea? That’s a decent enough lie, right?”

“Yeah, I can do that for you. You sure you’re ready to go back? There’s no rush y’know.” 

“Nah, the longer we wait the worse our tea’s gonna be. Sorry I brought you out for bad tea.” He knew it took a lot out of him to do things like this. He wasn’t exactly a crowds kinda person. 

“I don’t mind. A bad cup by your standards is still pretty good. Besides, good company can fix even the worst cup.” 

“It’s like you’re tryin to get me to cry again, Rabbit.” He gave him a playful shove. 

Yarne couldn’t help but laugh. What a bastard. He’s glad he’s his best friend.

“I could head in before you if that helps.”

“Yeah, probably a better idea. It’d make it look less like you’re trying to comfort me.” Which he did, but no one else had to know. 

He’d wait until he saw the light of the dining hall. That was enough distance between them. Now they looked like they were going in separately, because they were both two grown men that didn’t recently need each other’s support to stop crying about cats. And he wasn’t going to think about that anymore because thinking about it was just going to make him depressed. 

Walking in, he chose a simple teacup. It’s the kind his Ma would’ve encouraged. For relaxing teas you shouldn’t be looking for a bold design. Something plain and simple would be best. And a plain white cup didn’t have tiny little paws on it, so there was always that. 

This is why he should’ve listened to his Ma’s advice. He wouldn’t be in this mess if he didn’t try and use the girls to pick cute little-

That was enough of that. He had to move on.

Though his choice in cups was good, he knew his Ma would be appalled by the way he was carrying the teacups. They were empty, and cold, but too much time had been wasted already. It didn’t really matter that he was carrying two in each hand by the handles. 

He’d look like a fool carrying them on a tray in front of everyone. He couldn’t speak for the girls, but he knew that neither he nor Yarne wanted the entire hall’s attention on them. 

He had started all this, so it only made sense that he served them all too. They all deserved at least a cup of tea for all their help. Gods knew they deserved a lot more than a passable cup of tea, especially Yarne. 

Passable was generous. It tasted like the last time his Ma caught him sayin swears. He’d have to add more honey to it. It almost made him want to take all their cups and try again, but it’d be even less gentlemanly to do a thing like that. 

“Wow! You’re really good at making tea!” Annette complimented him, despite the fact that she really shouldn’t’ve. 

“Usually a lot better than this. If I hadn’t forgotten that I already brought that teacup back down it’d be a hell of a lot better. Next time’ll be a lot better.” He took a sip of his soapy tasting tea, and the words slowly set in. He just offered to do this all again some other time. 

“How about we all meet up again tomorrow night and we do this all again.” 

They… Actually wanted to drink tea with him?

If they did, it was a great excuse for him to drink tea and relax before bed. It might be weird for a tough lookin guy to drink tea, but if it was at the insistence of two young ladies, then that was just called bein a gentleman. 

He shot a glance over to Yarne, because this involved him too and he didn’t want him to feel like he was forced into this. 

He didn’t look entirely thrilled, but he did give him a small smile. 

“Sure, sounds good to me.”


	8. Chapter 8

The dark ritual was almost complete. In the dark candle lit room, he sat with the sheathed sword pressed against his forehead. 

Most ceremonies demanded that the sword be unsheathed, but there was kinda an incident the last time he did that and he ended up cutting his forehead a little and his mom freaked out about it. She made him promise to keep blades away from his face. 

He never got to finish the ceremony because of that. 

But he could hear the faint whisperings of the sword. It was reaching out to him, that meant the ritual had been a success! He needed to hone his senses and listen closer. So close was he to gaining the  _ true _ power of the blade, all he needed was a name. 

Demon… blood perhaps? 

No, not nearly powerful enough for a blade of this caliber. Demon felt like it was in there? Demonslayer? Exclavious, the Demon blade? 

That second one felt like it was only something. Perhaps this blade would be his soul weapon. The one he has searched for since his prophetic birth many many moons ago. 

It wasn’t quite it, so he needed to listen closer. It felt like it was right on the tip of his-

A loud knocking at his door startled him, making him really glad that he did have this sword sheathed. He just about ended up looking like Brady. 

Which would be a shame because it’s normally such a cool place to get a scar, but Brady ruined it forever with a  _ nerd _ injury. He didn’t want his _ sword _ injury being compared to a  _ violin _ injury. It just wasn’t cool at all. 

It was annoying though. He was so _ close  _ to breaking through to this sword and now he was going to start to ritual all over again. This had better be earth endingly important. This was important. What if this was his soul weapon and he made it forever shy and not want to speak to him because of this grave offence?

He swung open the door dramatically. “Who  _ dares _ disturb my dark ri-” 

Any anger he felt dissolved in an instant like ice to the flame. Because there was no way around the fact that he was in peril. His very mortal soul could be forfeit if he didn’t choose his words carefully. 

“Hey so I was just checking in with my cousin to see what you and your little friends were up to.” The Demon Queen herself asked, as if she wasn’t the most little in this situation. 

“I’m just trying to come up with a name for a sword. Can’t say I’m really up to much.” It was important, but the Demon Queen no doubt had plans. 

“Cool so you’re doing something else now. You’re gonna gather up the other members of the Justice Cabal and you’re gonna help me out with something.” Morgan said, having already made up her mind. 

Now she could be scary, she took her role of Demon Queen very seriously, but she wasn’t about to beat him in a fight. If she wanted to take this to the training area and spar then Owain could definitely take her. She couldn’t just boss him around like this.

“Morgan I’m kinda busy with something. Besides, you’re the Demon Queen. I’m not about to ally up with my greatest foe. You’re forgetting our carefully crafted lore. ” 

“You did like a few nights ago you coward.” 

“Hey Owain Gau is  _ not _ a coward!” He might not’ve had a lot of experience saving people proper, but he’s had a lot of training and Morgan knew that. 

“Then why are you turning me down before I even get to suggest my idea? Kinda sounds like a coward move.” 

This was a trick. Morgan was up to something and she was using her brains to outmatch him. It wasn’t fair that she learned tricks like this from her parents. It was so much easier to beat Brady. How come she was so tough? 

“ _ Fine _ , I’ll listen to your request. But not because you’re making me, because I’m  _ choosing _ to be nice.” 

“Great! I’ll grab Cynthia and you grab the rest of the Cabal and I’ll meet you at the training grounds.” Morgan grinned and ran off. 

Unease settled into his stomach. The Demon Queen was up to something, so it fell to him to figure it out. 

It didn’t take much for him to gather Ashe and Caspar and head down. It was maybe a little late, but they wouldn’t be the only ones up and about. It wasn’t like it was a restricted area. 

And even if it was then it was something beyond his control. His demon blood was bound to her and he had no choice but to listen to her wicked ways. 

When they got there, Cynthia and Morgan were already waiting. 

“So what’s the big idea, Morgan? Why do you need the Justice Cabal?” Owain asked, because he was the leader and perhaps the most brave for asking her. 

“I’m glad you asked.” Morgan said, getting up and standing on one of the crates. “Because my intel has told me that there’s someone on campus right now actively seeking to hurt one of our fellow classmates. One who’s more innocent than any of us.” 

“ _ What?! Who?! Do you know? _ ” Cynthia asked, Morgan must’ve been feeling particularly cruel if she left the person she came with in the dark. 

“Wait... How do we know we can trust you in the first place.” 

“Good observation, Caspar. Because the girl standing in front of us is none other than the dread Demon Queen herself!” Owain pointed his finger at her dramatically. He left his presently unnamed sword back in his room and besides, he got in trouble the last time he pointed a sword at someone who wasn’t fighting. 

“Owain  _ focus. _ We’re talking about a _ different  _ villain. One that’s _ actually _ trying to hurt someone? Not just for fun like I do.” Morgan said, as if she couldn’t be an absolute menace herself. 

“Right, Like I was saying, Caspar. She’s normally a force of chaos, but much like myself and the cursed blood that runs through my veins, she too can overcome it and do good sometimes.” 

Caspar rolled his eyes, but jealousy is a disease so Owain could only hope that he gets better soon. 

  
“Like I was _ saying. _ It’s someone you guys know about, because apparently you made some dumb bet with her and she’s got a problem with my brother so now I’m going to have a problem with  _ you _ if you don’t fix the mess you’ve made.” Morgan crossed her arms, in a very successful attempt to look threatening. She was more definitely a threat, because she had leverage against him and could and would tell his mom. 

“Do we even know you’re brother? I don’t recall seeing someone else like you in your class.” Poor naive Ashe said. 

“She’s talking about Brady. She’s his younger sister.” Cynthia stepped in to explain. “Didn’t Seteth settle all this already?” 

“Just because Seteth got involved doesn’t mean she’s done. And if  _ she’s _ not done, then  _ I’m  _ going to have to step in. So either you guys step in and talk her out of it, or I’ll show you a Demon Queen.” 

“We can handle it, right guys? I’m sure we’ll be able to talk some sense into her.” Owain really didn’t wanna see what Morgan had in store. She could be scary when she wanted to. She could be scary even when she didn’t want to. 

There was a reason she made such a good Demon Queen. 

“Ingrid is really nice once you get to know her. I’m sure we’ll be able to fix this. Don’t worry about it.” Ashe smiled, blissfully unaware of the wrath that awaits should they fail. 

“Good! Don’t let me down.” Morgan grinned before hopping off the box and walking off into the darkness. 

_ May the Gods have mercy on their damned souls.  _


End file.
